Take a long at this guys & girl, some intresting stuff. It does start in the 70s but after 30mins is into the 80s
"Documentary following a generation of post-punk musicians who took the synthesiser from the experimental fringes to the centre of the pop stage.
In the late 1970s, small pockets of electronic artists including the Human League, Daniel Miller and Cabaret Volatire were inspired by Kraftwerk and JG Ballard and dreamt of the sound of the future against the backdrop of bleak, high-rise Britain.
The crossover moment came in 1979 when Gary Numan's appearance on Top of the Pops with Tubeway Army's Are Friends Electric heralded the arrival of synthpop. Four lads from Basildon known as Depeche Mode would come to own the new sound whilst post-punk bands like Ultravox, Soft Cell, OMD and Yazoo took the synth out of the pages of the NME and onto the front page of Smash Hits."
If your really into the older stuff then maybe this is for you......
Kraftwerk: Minimum-Maximum
"Compilation of live performances by the godfathers of electronic music, Kraftwerk. Filmed during the Teutonic foursome's 2004 world tour and featuring some of their most notable tracks, including Autobahn, Radioactivity and Trans Europe Express"
You are aware that anybody not in the UK can't watch them?
First doc was very good. I was little miffed they didn't mention the Blitz club and the New Romantic scene in London (the rise of synths were tied into it). Spandau Ballet were one of the first groups to use the synths and the movement to gain success as a 'pop' group, and though they mentioned Visage and Ultravox (passingly) not mentioning the Blitz club and the movement that went with it seems a glaring omission. Apart from that - very good.
I thought this doc was more in keeping with 'Synth Britannia':
It's a pretty good doc, too. It made it sound like the only place doing experimental music in the 70's was Germany, which isn't really true. Nor is it true that Germany was the only place using a lot of synths. But even so, the batch of musicians and groups Germany had during that early 70's period were undoubtedly influential, culminating in the release of the uber-important Kraftwerk album 'Autobahn' in the mid 70's.
Posted by Saint_in_London (Member # 2575) on :
I don't actually know all the countries that can watch iplayer, but it was shown on BBC 4 originally I beleive and I have heard of the BBC being shown around the world so maybe look out for it there? I also know a lot of other documentry style channels around the world buy BBC docs, so maybe a chance to catch it there sometime if really intrested........
Posted by logan5 (Member # 1467) on :
quote:I don't actually know all the countries that can watch iplayer,
UK and Ireland - that's it. It comes down to the licence fee; in the UK we all pay TV licenses so we get to watch all the BBC material. Everywhere else the BBC is a subscription channel, so it doesn't operate under the 'Public Service Broadcasting' umbrella (the reason for the licence) and charges for it's content.
Good docs, though. If anyone does have any BBC channels, then as Saint said - keep an eye out.
Posted by Saint_in_London (Member # 2575) on :
Keep looking out for these docs if you are outside of the UK, not all BBC content is funded by the licence fee..........
Why does BBC AMERICA carry advertisements when the BBC in the UK does not? In the UK, the BBC is funded by British TV licensing fees. However, by law, the BBC is not allowed to use this money to fund channels outside the UK, therefore BBC AMERICA is reliant on advertising sales. Without advertisements, we would not exist
